


Aspiring Idol

by douxpink



Category: K-pop, Red Velvet (K-pop Band), 레드벨벳 - Fandom
Genre: F/F, Heechul is also a teacher, I forgot I kinda made Seulgi dense in this hah, Texting, There are some random OCs fyi just to make the plot spicy, and we ship seulgi x mr. bear in this household, irene is gay, maybe Heechul has crush on wendy, red velvet has 4 members (so far wink wink), seulgi is a cutie, she's cute tho, sooyoung is gay, they use emoticons a lot lol, this fic is mainly Wenrene but there are Joyri moments, wendy is BIG GAY though, wendy is an English teacher, wendy is gay, yerim is closeted gay
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-10
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 06:12:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17699135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/douxpink/pseuds/douxpink
Summary: Red Velvet Wenrene au where Wendy moves to Korea to become a singer, but she doesn't have a lot of money, so she takes a job teaching English at a high school first.↳ One day, she runs into Irene, a famous k-pop idol, on the street and they hit it off. ♡





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I originally published this (sadly unfinished) fic on my twitter @douxpink, but I decided I'd share it here as well in case y'all wanted an easier, more fluent format to read from than twitter screenshots hah. As for this fanfiction and my other Red Velvet fanfiction, "Wendy and the Pink Rabbit," I truly do hope to finish them some day though, now that I'm in college, I've been focusing on that a lot so I don't have time to write like I used to during the summer. That being said, I still want to try and finish/write more for these fics over summer 2019, but I'll also be balancing a job so we'll see how it works out. I don't want to get anyones hopes up, but I also don't want to let any of you down, so I'll try and keep my promises! :-)
> 
> Thank you!
> 
>  
> 
> OTHER INFO  
> Pairings - Wenrene and JoyRi
> 
> LOCATIONS  
> Wendy/Wendy’s school - Wonju  
> Irene/SM Studios - Seoul

**chapter 1 - WENDY**

♡

 

Stepping out of the public transit bus, Wendy spun around to face the school that she would be working at for the new few years. She was excited, but she knew deep down that she’d rather be training to become a singer. 

 

Wendy was always the type of person to just go with the flow and not complain though, so with a huff and a rush of determination, she smiled and walked towards the school building.

 

Clutching onto her briefcase with one hand and her english books with the other, her eyes scanned across the school yard.The school itself was fairly big, with white stone and concrete covering the exterior. There were many windows that lined the building, as well as a gate that fenced the school grounds away from the busy sidewalk. The mostnoticeable feature to Wendy, however, was the giant plum blossom tree that was planted right behind the gate and sprouted up towards the sky. It’s branches hung towards the ground and some of its petals were scattered on the sidewalk below. Wendy smiled and imagined students eating lunch with their friends or confessing to their crush beneath that tree.

 

Wendy couldn’t help but reminisce back to her old high school days when she realized she wasn’t attracted to boys like most of the girls in her class. Instead, Wendy realized that she thought girls were really pretty. They were nice and their hair smelled good too. Wendy remembered one girl in particular that she thought was really cute, though she never did get the chance to talk to her. She also never learned her name but she liked to imagine she had a sweet sounding name like Mi-Sun or Cupcake. Wendy was quite imaginative as a child.

 

Looking back, it was more of a one sided secret crush situation where Wendy would try to steal glances at the cute girl whenever she could without the girl noticing.

 

Shaking away those thoughts, Wendy pushed through the front doors of the school building and walked inside.

 

The school was relatively empty since Wendy wanted to get there super early for her first day. She hated being late so she made sure to wake up extra early even though school didn’t officially start until 8:25am.Before school started, however, she was scheduled to meet with the principal and get settled in, as well as get accustomed to the school and see how everything worked. 

 

As she made her way towards the principal’s office she decided to take her time and admire the school, occasionally poking her head into open classrooms and looking around. Wendy had a habit of getting distracted easily and she would often wonder around for hours. During this time, Wendy had noticed that the walls of the school were more beige andbrown toned, which was a complete contrast to the pure white walls on the outside of the school.

 

As she continued down the halls, her heels clanking as she walked, she passed by some students artwork in the hallway and she stopped to get a better look at one in particular that had caught her eye. It was a portrait of beautiful girl with long brown locks and piercing, yet soft, brown eyes. The girl in the portrait was wearing a fluffy pink jacket and she held a rose to her face. Wendy thought she looked like a supermodel and she could barely suppress the gasp that escaped her lips.

 

With a hand pressed lightly across her lips and her eyes locked onto the painting, she whispered to the brown eyed beauty, “Pretty.” She'd never seen an actual angel before, but she imagined that this was what one would looked. As she continued to admire the details of the painting, being entranced by the mystery girl whom was the muse of the painting, she failed to notice the principal of the school approach her from behind.

 

“You must be Ms. Shon.” A harsh tone spoke up and Wendy jumped at the new voice. The owner of the voice, an older woman, was petite with curly black hair and she clutched a clipboard in her hands. Thankfully she was staring intently down at her clipboard that she hadn’t noticed Wendy’s startled expression, so she quickly straightened herself out and turned to face whom she assumed was her new boss.

 

“Ah yes sorry,” Wendy bowed, “i was just looking arou-“

 

“That’s fine." The woman cut it, "Now follow me.” She smiled up at Wendy which threw her off because it contracted the stern, exasperated tone of her voice. Pushing the thought aside Wendy decided to ignore it and happily smiled back. “Yes ma’am.” She replied and quickly fell into line behind the principal as they walked through the halls.

 

“On your left is the cafeteria and there are 4 different bells that will ring throughout the period to signal the lunch changes. As a member of our staff you will eat lunch during the same period as your class so when they dismiss to the cafeteria you will be allowed a lunch break.”

 

Wendy nodded. She’d already reviewed all the class changes and studied the schedule ahead of time so she didn’t really need to hear all of this information again. Instead of listening to her drone on and on, Wendy’s mind focused back to that painting. For whatever reason Wendy just could not stop thinking about whoever that girl in the painting was. Wendy wasn’t even sure if she was a real person or just a girl created by the artist’s imagination, though, but Wendy hopped it was the former.

 

“Alright, now here is your classroom. I left you the schedule on your desk and you can ask Mr. Kim in the classroom next door if you have any other questions.”

 

“Oh, ok. Thank you, ma’am.” Wendy bowed again with a bright smile. In return, the principal, whom Wendy still hadn’t learned the name of, just brushed past her without a word. Once again choosing to ignore the cold shoulder that she felt from that woman, Wendy sighed and looked around at the classroom. _Her_ classroom. Wendy didn’t think she’d ever get used to hearing that.

 

Walking over to her desk, she set her briefcase down along with her books, and tied her hair into a pony tail to get it out of her face. When she sat down, she noticed the view outside her window of the same plum blossom tree that she’d been admiring earlier. She smiled to herself and watched the petals blow in the wind. She’d have to remind herself to open up those windows before class started.

 

“Settling in ok?”The voice of a man spoke and Wendy turned her head to see a man with black hair and deep brown eyes leaning against the doorframe. 

 

“Oh y-yes everything is great Mr...um ?”

 

“Heechul. Uh Kim Heechul.” He said and walked towards her with an out stretched arm.

 

Wendy shook his hand and smiled up at him.“It’s nice to meet you Mr. Kim, sir. My name is Son Seugwan but uh friends call me Wendy.”

 

“Wendy, huh. Alright well, Wendy, since we’re probably going to be seeing each other a lot, let’s drop the formalities. You can call me Heechul.” He smiled and Wendy was glad that his smile seemed genuine. She was happy to be making her first friend since moving back to Korea. Maybe she’d ask to eat lunch with him later. Just as friends though.

 

“Hey, Heechul, can i.. ask you something.” Wendy was fumbling with one of the many pens on her desk now, this one happened to be purple.

 

“Sure, fire away.” Heechul said cheerfully.

 

“What’s the deal with the principal? I don't know why but, she didn't seem to like me very much and I'm not sure if I did something to upset her. I mean, if I did something wrong without knowing than of course I take full responsibility but I-I don't know hah maybe I'm just over thinking things.“

 

Heechul smiled before placing a hand to his chin in thought. “Hm Mrs. Lee? Yeahh she can be like that with people like you.”

 

Wendy was confused, “P-people like me?”

 

“Ah no no I didn’t mean it like that.” Heechul laughed, waving his hands back and forth to shoo away any of Wendy’s apprehension. “Let me explain,” Heechul was leaning against her desk now. “Do you know how many English teachers we’ve seen come and go before you?”

 

Wendy thought for a minute, “...No not exactly.”

 

“Well, to answer that- a lot. And do you know why?”

 

“Hmmm I-I'm not sure. Maybe... low pay?” Wendy guessed which enacted a laugh from Heechul.

 

“Haha no no. You see, hmm how do I put this... ehem well, Mrs. Lee is a very traditional, tolerates no funny business, kind of gal so she likes things to be at a certain um.. standard.”Heechul shuffled with his hands as he spoke and Wendy assumed he was grasping at the best way to explain the situation. “This means she can be, ah how do i say this, uh ignorant at times when it comes to-“

 

“People who aren’t from Korea.” Wendy finished, leaning back into her seat with a sigh.

 

“Yep, bull's-eye. The last couple of English teachers at this school hadbeen American and Mrs. Lee gave them such a hard time that they all ended up resigning within their first few months of working here.”

 

Wendy crinkled up her nose a bit at this revelation. _‘Well shit.. I haven’t even done anything and my boss already doesn’t like me,’_ she thought, dropping the purple pen back onto her desk.Placing her hands on her desk, she scooted the chair out from beneath her, “Then i’ll just have to make her like me.” She declared with a sparkle in her eye.

 

Heechul couldn't help but chuckle at Wendy’s determination. “You know what, I think I’m going to like you Ms. Wendy hah.”

 

Suddenly a soft beeping was heard and Heechul looked down at his watch, “Ah it’s about time for classes to start,” he said and started walking towards the door, “I’ll see you at lunch?” He smiled and then disappeared into the hallway.

 

“Yes you will.” Wendy said to herself, still standing up. Now she just had to prepare for the rush of incoming students. Walking over to one of the windows to let the breeze and faint scent of plum blossoms waft into the room, Wendy was ready to teach her first-


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> switching plot-lines to introduce irene/seulgi/joy/yeri!~

**chapter 2 - IRENE**

✿

 

“class! Youre lacking class! Come on ladies, this part of the choreo should be elegant! You want the audience to swoon, not run away in terror! Yeri I’m looking at you..” the choreographer advised sternly causing Yeri to pout.

 

Joy shared a sympathetic look towards the maknae and then focused back towards the mirror when she heard the choreographer clap his hands three times and then restart the track.

 

“Now on my count. 1-2-3 and arms 4-5-6 Irene moves to the center 7-8... 1-2-3-4...” the choreographer continued through each set of counts and somehow the girls were able to pull themselves together enough to finish the routine without any mistakes.

 

After they’d practiced for a few more minutes, the girls were allowed a break to rest and rehydrate and the choreographer left them to talk amongst one another.

 

Letting her hair down from its tightly wound ponytail, Irene sighed and sat criss cross on the floor next to Seulgi who was spread out and chugging a bottle of water as if she’d never tasted water before in her life. Irene smiled, “Well that wasn’t too bad right?” As the leader of their girl group she always tried to remain positive in every situation for the sake of her girls.

 

Seulgi, now sitting up from the ground, glared at her leader before whining, “I feel like my legs are gonna fall off, unnie.”

 

Joy and Yeri, who had made their way onto the floor next to them simultaneously nodded their heads in agreement.

 

Irene shook her head. “We just have to get this routine down pat and the rest is smooth sailing!” she tried to encourage with a smile, “Though I do agree it can be a lot of work, we have to give our parents the best performance that we can.”

 

Their group were scheduled to perform a special Hometown performance for their parents and a large audience of people, as an extension of their current tour, in a few days. Though Irene would never admit it out loud, she was feeling a little nervous that she might not live up to her parents expectations once they finally saw her perform live for the first time. Being an idol meant that her and her group would always be traveling around and working on a bunch of different stuff for the fans, so they rarely got time to see their families. That’s why this performance meant so much to Irene and the other girls. They had to do their best to show their parents how much they’ve accomplished already.

 

“Come on let’s stretch.” Irene patted the spot behind her back and Seulgi huffed before scooting over to the leader so their backs were touching.

 

“Yeerriiimm~” Joy sang, “stretch with me too!” her exhaustion from the harsh routine now replaced with her usual cheerfulness.

 

Joy loved messing around with the maknae whenever she could which is how Seulgi and Irene started to compare their relationship to that of Tom and Jerry. Joy would always try to partner up with Yeri whenever they did anything, whether it be picking roommates, choosing spots in the choreos, or stretching. Joy couldn’t help that she’d developed a little crush on the maknae over the years as well.

 

“Fine fine.” Yeri said, begrudgingly, and scooted behind an excited Joy to do some stretching.

 

Similar to Joy, though equally different, Yeri acted liked Joy annoyed her, but deep down, she had a soft spot for her unnie and secretly loved it whenever she would call her name even if it was to just look at a picture on her phone that she thought was funny. The difference between the two girls was that Joy openly expressed her love for Yeri while Yeri kept her true feelings for Joy a secret. Thosesame feelings kept her up at night for hours where she’d contemplate whether or not Joy truly felt the same way about her.

 

As the girls continued stretching their backs, their legs, their arms, basically everything, they heard their manager yelling to someone in the hallway outside the practice room.

 

“What the hell was that?” Yeri asked first, turning her head towards the direct of the noise.

 

“Oooh lets' go listen!” Joy cheered before hopping to the door, the girls right behind her.

 

The four girls looked comical having each of their ears pressed to the wooden door as they tried to listen to the argument taking place in the hallway.

 

“No Taeyeon it's too late to add another member into the group, you know this!” shouted one of the co-CEOs of the SM staff.

 

“Just hear me out Han Se-min sunbaenim!” Taeyeon argued back fiercely, clearlyoverstepping her boundaries. 

 

“Sir, if you could just look at my proposal, i-it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time and I really think that adding a fifth member would boost ticket sales and increase overa-“

 

“That’s enough Taeyeon, I don’t want to hear anymore of this from you!” Han Se-min yelled and stomped off, now out of reach of the four ears still pressed to the practice room door.

 

Taeyeon clicked her tongue in disbelief and said under her breath, “So, he wants to do it the hard way huh. Fine. I’ll show him.” She was yelling again, now, “I’ll show you! I’ll find someone perfect and you’ll wish you’d listened to me sooner!!” Taeyeon huffed and Irene could see her cross her arms stubbornly through the tiny window on the door. She proceeded to walk the opposite way the CEO had taken, down the hall, clearly still fuming about that confrontation.

 

The four girls, who were still stacked on top of one another with their faces pressed against the door, had their eyes wide with shock. No one moved for a while, they were still processing what their manager had said.

 

Seulgi, being the first one to speak up, squealed, “Di-did Taeyeon unnie just say what I think she said!”

 

“A-another member?!” Irene gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. She was surprised and couldn’t suppress the growing smile that appeared on her face at the thought of another member. Internally, she was thinking about how cute a new member would be. They also hadn’t been debuting for that long so a new member would be perfect.

 

“OH MY FUCK!!!!” Yeri yelled still staring wide eyed at everyone. She too was excited about the idea of another member, and it give her high hopes that, maybe, she wouldn’t be the maknae of the group anymore.

 

“Wait I’m so excited and I don’t even know if it’s going to happen but knowing Taeyeon unnie its gonna happen and omg i CAN’T HANDLE THIS!!!!” Joy rambled and grabbed the closest person next to her, which happened to be Seulgi, and they jumped up and down.

 

During their little dance of excitement, the door to the practice room swung open and their choreographer was standing in the doorway. “It’s time to practice again! You better have stretched already!” He shouted, with feigned anger, and then noticed the girls all smiling and hugging one another. This was strange to him because they always groaned when they had to start practicing again.

 

“Yes sir!” The four girls said in unison as they hurried to their spots in the routine.

 

Shaking his head, the choreographer decided to ignore their strange behavior and just start practicing again.

 

“Alright well we’re starting with 'Happiness' so get ready.” he said and was kind of creeped out at how up-beat the girls were acting. Maybe they were just getting into character for the song, he thought.

 

“Alright now 1-2-3-4-5 and Seulgi-“ the choreographer clapped to the counts.

 

“Sometimes, you gotta be bold. Just rock the world!” Seulgi danced and winked to the mirror in front of them.

 

“BOOYAH!! La la la la la la la la la la! HAPPINESS!!” the girls sang, nailing every part of their choreo.

 

During Seulgi’s solo, Yeri leaned over to Irene as they were dancing and whispered, “U-unnie if we really do end up getting another member, we need to leave space for her in the choreos a-and we should give her some of our lines in the songs too.”

 

Irene smiled at the maknae. Though it always seemed like Yeri put up a front like she didn’t “care” or that she didn’t really take anything seriously in front of the cameras, she was still a cute kid deep down and was really thoughtful in regards to others. Irene loved this the most about her. It made her seem so much cuter to Irene that she almost wanted to stop dancing and just squeeze her puffy little cheeks! 

 

“Of course Yeri, we will.” Irene smiled before winking and moving up to where Seulgi had been to do her part of the rap.

 

The song ended and the choreographer was pleased with the amount of energy they’d put into their practice. They hadn’t missed any of their queues and their facial expressions were good throughout the whole song. Since he seemed to be in a good mood, he decided to call it a night and send them back home to their dorms. The girls sighed with relief at the thought of changing out of their sweaty clothes and into fluffy pajamas. They made sure to grab their bags before leaving and Irene led the way down the hall and out towards the car that was waiting for them.

 

Irene slid into the car and chose a seat next to the window, the other girls following in after her. With a sigh, Irene took her headphones out of her bag and thumbed through the music on her iPod until she got to one of her favorite songs, ‘Gee’ by Girls Generation.

 

Looking out the window, Irene couldn’t help but think about what Taeyeon had said earlier in the hallway. Of course all the girls had been excited about the talk of a fifth member, but Irene was the most intrigued by it. Even though it hadn’t sounded like the CEO was on board with the idea, Irene was determined to do whatever she could to help Taeyeon in convincing him otherwise.

 

Outside the sky was clear and the sun was shining. Irene smiled at the sky and the car started up with a ding-“


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> back to wendy~
> 
> also, for future reference: ♡ = wendy, ✿ = irene

**chapter 3 - WENDY**

♡

 

‘Ding ding!’ The bell for lunch rang throughout the classroom and Wendy was surprised that the day had progressed so quickly. She hadn’t expected teaching to be so fun but it actually was! She had introduced herself to the class and they all seemed really well behaved, well, as well behaved as a group of high schoolers could be. She had even managed to learn most of their names already. At the beginning of class she had told the students to stand up one by one and say something about themselves so that she could get to know them better, and she had learned some pretty interesting things about them so far. One boy had said that he was practicing to become an idol, another said he wanted to join the military, and one of the girls had said that her older sister was already a famous idol. 

 

Wendy had wanted to share her interest in singing with them, but decided against it. She was their teacher after all. 

 

Since the lunch bell had just rang, Wendy dismissed her class to the lunchroom while she stayed behind to grab her lunch bag. She smiled at the childish design printed on her bag. It was really colorful with pink and purple squiggles accompanied by glittery stars and music notes. It was Wendy‘s old lunch bag that she used in elementary school but never had the chance to purchase a new one. She was fine with this one though. She thought it was cute.

 

As she walked down the halls towards the lunchroom, she saw Heechul talking with a student about something very adamantly. Wendy couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying, but they looked like they had a good teacher/student relationship with how they were talking with one another. Wendy giggled a little at the smile stretched across the students face as he looked up at Heechul excitedly. Soon one of the student’s friends called him over so Wendy decided she would jog over to walk next to Heechul.

 

“Heechul!” Wendy waved as she fell into place next to him. 

 

“Ah well if it isn’t Ms. Shon. Hello again Wendy how are you enjoying your first day teaching?”

 

Wendy smiled, looking straight ahead, “Honestly, it's been surprisingly good. Not sure if that’s a good or bad sign, but I’m trying to be more positive sooo let's go with a good sign hah!”

 

Heechul nodded at her enthusiasm and held open the door to the cafeteria for Wendy to walk through first.

 

The cafeteria was large and shaped like a rectangle, all four of the walls were a stark white color and one of the walls was lined with windows. A sliding door was on that same wall which led to outdoor seating. There were already a bunch of students seated at the matching white lunch tables and the room was alive with gossip. 

 

Heechul led Wendy over to a group of tables towards the windows that seemed to be sectioned off as staff seating. There were some teachers there already that Wendy didn’t have the chance to meet yet, along with the principal who had been rude to her earlier. They seemed to be discussing their plans for after school.

 

Wendy bowed at them and took a seat next to one of the female teachers and she pretended she hadn’t noticed the look that the principal was giving her. The teacher Wendy had sat down next to was young, maybe a few years older than Wendy, and she had long brown hair. Heechul sat across from Wendy.

 

“You must be the new English teacher! Wendy Shon, was it?” The pretty brown hair asked, reaching her hand out towards Wendy to shake.

 

“Yes, hello, it’s very nice to meet you miss...uh”

 

“You’re cute,” she laughed, “Kim Jisoo.” She said with wink and turned back towards one of the other teachers to continue their previous conversation. Her brown hair was radiant in the light. Wendy was blushing a little and when she turned back to face Heechul, he was quirking an eyebrow at her.

 

“What..” Wendy asked, feeling the need to fix her bangs with her fingers all of a sudden. When Heechul just laughed at her in response, Wendy leaned forward to lightly hit him on the shoulder. The principal noticed this.

 

“Sooo Wendy,” Heechul started, rubbing a hand on the spot where she had playfully hit him. “I’ve been wondering this since I first saw you. Tell me, why did you decide to become an English teacher here?”

 

Wendy pretended like she was thinking of an answer and then, with a raise of her brow, said, “You first!! Why did yooouu decide to become a teacher here?~” 

 

“Wooowww ok I see how it is. Well... the dream was- wait, you have to promise not to laugh.”

 

Wendy gasped, “I’d never.” and feigned a shocked expression at the accusation.

 

“You still have to promise~” Heechul sounded like a child who was about to confess to their friends that they had superpowers or something crazy.

 

“I promise.” Wendy said, sternly, and made a motion of doing a crossing movement with her finger against her heart.

 

“Good.” Heechul grinned and then exhaled. “Growing up, my dream was always... to become a baker.” He looked up, probably expecting Wendy to laugh, but she just stared at him, taking in everything he was saying with wide eyes. 

 

“A baker! That’s so cool Heechul! I love baking too, even though I’m not that great at it.. it’s still really fun!” Wendy beamed.

 

Wendy was always a selfless person and loved to make other people feel happy to the point where she tended to put others before herself. It was just the way she was, and she really enjoyed listening to people talk about what they were passionate about. She loved to hear people go on and on about their dreams and ambitions so adamantly, because it gave her hope that her dreams could come true as well.

 

Heechul continued, leaning back, “Yep, a baker. Hah, shocking right? It doesn’t really sound like something I’d enjoy, I know, but I do. Well, I did. I fell in love with creating my own pastries and recipes ever since I was young. I remember my sister got one of those easy bake ovens as a gift and I probably ended up using it more than she did.”

 

Wendy giggled as she imagined him playing with the tiny pink oven.

 

“As the years progressed, however, and reality started to weigh down on me, the whole ‘baking thing’ didn’t really work out.... sooo, becoming a teacher was my next option. It turned out alright in the end. Teaching is fun.”

 

Wendy frowned and was about to tell him to quit and become a baker, when he spoke up.

 

“Alright now it’s your turn~ Spill it.”

 

Wendy huffed, “Finnnee. I moved to Korea to become a singer. I didn’t have enough money to find an agency, train, and debut let alone afford the plane ticket to get here because of student loans, plus I have an apartment now so I have rent to pay, so I need to save up my money first, big time. That’s why I'm teaching English here. But unlike youuu,” Wendy jabbed her finger at him, “I’m not giving up on my dreams so easily, and you shouldn’t either! We need to both quit and just do it! Alright, screw it, let’s go!”

 

Heechul laughed, “It’s literally your first day here.”

 

Wendy crossed her arms. “Okay you’re right but still. One day. You and me. We’re breaking outta here!”

 

“We aren’t trapped here, you know” Heechul said, loudly sipping his water, “we can quit whenever we want to..well, kinda...”

 

“You’re missing the poin- never mind.” Wendy huffed and she noticed the principal shooting daggers at her out of the corner of her eye. It made her uncomfortable but Wendy decided not to comment on it. 

 

Soon the bell rang for lunch dismissal so Wendy gathered her lunch and packed what she hadn’t finished back into her bag. She wasn’t about to waste food that was for sure.

 

When Wendy made it back to her class, Heechul and her stopped in front of the door to say their goodbyes for now. 

 

“Back to paradise.” Heechul said, leaning against the wall. Wendy nodded.

 

“Good luck with your class.”

 

“You too. Oh, before I go, promise me one thing.” 

 

Wendy looked up at him, curious, “What is it?”

 

“Promise me that you’ll sing for me one day?”

 

Wendy laughed, “Only if you promise to cook me something one day too.”

 

“It’s a deal.” Heechul said before walking off towards his classroom.

 

Wendy blew her bangs out of her eyes and then spun around, determined to teach these students something today. 

 

“Alright class, tell me, what do you know about American culture? It could be a stereotype, something you saw on tv, anything.”

 

A few hands rose up and Wendy smiled, catching a glance at the sun shining through the branches of that plum blossom tree swaying outside. She was determined to do her best so she could become a singer soon.


	4. Chapter 4

**chapter 4 - IRENE**

✿

 

When they arrived back to the dorms, the girls were relieved to take it easy before training again tomorrow. 

 

“We should watch a movie!~” Joy clapped as she ran through the doorway and onto the couch. Yeri went straight for the refrigerator while Seulgi bounded into her bedroom adamant on getting something, but the girls all knew what it was. Irene took her shoes off and hung up her coat by the door and, feeling like the only responsible one, she locked the door as well. 

 

“Yeah let’s watch a movie. I’ve got the snacks!” Yeri said, running over to the couch with her arms full of food. Joy cheered and grabbed the Oreos from her.

 

Irene smiled at how childish they acted and she hated to remind them of their diet so this time she’d let it slide. Joy and Yeri were now searching through their entire collection of DVDs, trying to agree on something they’d all enjoy. Irene laughed at their argument between watching every single Harry Potter movie or watching every single Saw movie.

 

“We’re watching Harry Potter!” Joy said, shoving the DVD in Yeri’s face as if that would ensure that they were watching Harry Potter.

 

“No! We’re watching Saw, Sooyoung!!” Yeri said back, shoving Saw in Joy’s face now.

 

“Honorifics, Yerim! And no! Saw is scary.. Harry Potter is fun!”

 

Yeri sighed, “You just can’t respect the true artistry that is the Saw series, u n n i e~!”

 

“Why you little-“

 

“Let’s watch Tangled!!” Seulgi’s voiced interrupted the argument as she tripped into the living room tugging along her giant 6 foot teddy bear.

 

“Mr. Bear agrees with me!” She smiled, petting the soft fabric of the bear's head as she sat on top of it next to the couch.

 

“Ooh I like Tangled!” Joy agreed which caused Yeri to scoff in protest again. 

 

Irene, still observing everything from afar, was now seated at the table with a fresh cup of tea at her lips which she’d brewed during the Harry Potter/Saw crisis. She was simply minding her business and living her best life, humming one of their songs to herself. That bliss was short-lived, however, when she heard: “Unnieeee!!!! Help usssss!” in a whining tone from those three girls that she called her band members and roommates.

 

Irene opened her eyes, which had shut during her bliss which lasted .2 seconds, and put her cup down. With a sigh, she said, matter-of-factly, “Coraline. It’s cute and creepy at the same time.” She was standing up now and dusted off the non-existent dirt from her skirt. 

 

“Ooo ya, Coraline! I forgot about that!” Joy said, and ran over to the DVDs to look through them again, “Thanks unnie, you’re the best!~” 

 

Irene smiled, with a nod and then walked towards her bedroom that she shared with Seulgi. Their little suite actually had 3 bedrooms but the spare bedroom was used for Taeyeon or if they had any guests over. Yeri and Joy shared the other room.

 

“Aren’t you going to watch the movie too, unnie?” Seulgi asked, still sitting on top of Mr Bear who hadn’t seem to mind the extra weight, through, Irene couldn’t really tell what the bear's true feelings were through those black beaded eyes. 

 

“Of course, but not in these clothes,” she said, gesturing to her uncomfortable stage outfit from their training earlier. “Pajama party!!” she squealed, deciding to embrace her inner child, and ran into the bedroom to get dressed. The rest of the girls did the same and even Yeri was excited to slip into her pajamas even though it was only 3 o’clock in the afternoon. 

 

When Irene walked back into the living room, she was wearing her favorite fluffy pink pajama pants and a light, flowy crop top that said ‘xoxo’ on it. She’d definitely stolen the top from her little sister before she left because she thought it was cute. Plus it looked better on her anyways! She decided to sit on the side of the couch that had an arm rest because she knew Yeri would want the other side and Joy would want to snuggle with everyone and be in the middle. 

 

Soon Seulgi came over wearing the cutest bear print pajama pants and a matching t-shirt that was most likely meant for a child but somehow she had been able to find it in her size. Irene wasn’t complaining though because she thought Seulgi looked absolutely adorable! She looked even cuter since she was sitting right on top of her giant bear. 

 

It didn’t take long for Joy and Yeri to also return back in their pajamas, Yeri wearing vertical stripped pants and a Squirtle t-shirt, and Joy wearing similar fluffy pants as Irene except hers were green, and a black tank top that had a cupcake on it. Irene smiled when she saw that she was right in guessing where they’d want to sit and she giggled to herself because of how well she’d gotten to know her members in the time they’d been together. Even though she had a little sister back home, Irene considered these girls her family and she loved them just as much as she loved her family back in Daegu.

 

Since Seulgi was the closest to the DVD player, she crawled, yes crawled, over to the DVD player and put the Coraline disk in the slot. Yeri was also happily passing out popcorn and goodies to the other girls who took them excitedly as they fixed their eyes to the tv screen in bliss.


	5. Chapter 5

**chapter 5 - WENDY**

♡

 

School had finally ended and Wendy was equally excited and drained that she had completed her first full day as an English teacher. All the students had already left and it was around 5:30 pm when she started to collect her things to leave. She had to stay a while after school, however, because the principal had sent her an email instructing her to type out her lesson plans from the rest of the week and to give them to her so that she could see them? Review them? Wendy didn’t really know why exactly the principal was making her do this but she just assumed she was making sure Wendy was prepared enough to teach. Wendy didn’t really mind having to do the extra work anyway because if doing it left a good impression on her new boss, she would put her blood, sweat, and tears into making it perfect.

 

It also helped that, in the weirdest way, Wendy thought organizing and planning was kinda fun. It made her feel in control and grounded when she wrote everything out. She got a similar feeling when she’d write down lyrics to songs. Though she wasn’t the best at putting emotions to paper, she still found it relaxing nonetheless.

 

Now Wendy just had to print out the plans and leave them on the principal's desk in her office and then she’d be able to head home for the night. Wiping her forehead with the back of her hand, Wendy made sure the papers were as neat and clean as possible and she even patted herself on the back for her hard work. 

 

When she walked out into the hallway, making sure to lock the door to her classroom behind her, she started walking towards the principal’s office. In a weird way, it reminded Wendy of the fear you’d get in high school if you ever got called to the principal’s office, though thankfully Wendy never had that experience. She was a good kid in school who always did her homework and tended to do well on her tests. She honestly thought studying was fun sometimes.

 

Looking around the hall, she realized just how quiet it was, a huge contrast to the buzz of students chatting at lockers or walking arm and arm down the halls just a few hours ago. When she finally reached her destination, she knocked on the wooden door, softly.

 

She cleared her throat before speaking. “Principal Lee?” Wendy said and she held her ear to the door, waiting for a response. When no response came, she decided to peer her head into the small window on the door. The principals office was completely dark and there was no one inside. Wendy had to adjust her eyes to get a better look around. She noticed the office was much bigger than her classroom plus it had no windows. 

 

Without realizing she had her hand on the doorknob, she pushed it open, startled, and practically fell face forward onto the hard tiled floor. 

 

“Ow ow ow!” Wendy sat up abruptly, rubbing her nose with her hand in an attempt to help dull the pain. Thankfully she wasn’t bleeding or anything, but now her nose hurt a lot. Snapping out of her self-pity and still sitting on the floor, she looked up and realized she was now in the principal's office. 

 

“Woah.” She whispered, feeling like she needed to be quiet all of a sudden and that she was breaking the rules by being in her office after hours. She knew she wasn’t doing anything wrong but it still felt like she was.

 

She could see the office much better now and she noticed the lack of things inside it. There was a desk, some chairs, and a closet in the back but aside from that, the room was practically empty. There were no little knick-knacks or family photos on her desk, and everything was a solid brown color.  The room kind of gave Wendy the creeps like some serial killer would pop out of the closet any minute. 

 

Shivering, Wendy stood up from the floor and decided to just place her papers on the desk and get the hell out. But before she could leave and finally go home, she heard a tapping sound coming from the hallway. 

 

Wendy gasped and held her breathe as the tapping grew closer and closer. 

 

“Oh my god, oh my god, why am I so scared right now ahahah it’s probably nothing Wendy calm down silly!” She whispered to herself, like a mantra and decided she’d hide in the closet until the noise passed. She was probably being overdramatic and it was just the janitor cleaning the halls, but on the slim chance that it really was a murderer, or the principal, or something, Wendy found herself in the snug confines of the principal’s closet.

 

“This is so dumb- ouch.” Wendy whispered and rubbed her nose again when she accidentally hit it against the closet door.

 

The tapping stopped and she heard a jiggling sound coming from the door to the office now. It sounded like.. keys?

 

The realization of what was happening struck Wendy like a bus.

 

“Oh f-“ she said before she burst out of the closet and ran towards the door. She gasped when she realized it was a janitor, who had headphones on and a pissed off look on his face, that was just trying to lock the office door.

 

“I’m here! Hi! I’m in here, hello!” Wendy waved frantically to get the janitor’s attention, even though he was already looking at her, while she also tried to maintain a stance of professionalism. 

 

Taking one of the headphones out, the janitor sighed and spoke in a gruff voice, “What are y-“

 

“Nothing!” Wendy cut him off, her voice sounding higher than usual. “Yep ahahah nothing! No thing! Just a simple misunderstanding is all!” Wendy waved her arms around in the air in an attempt to shoo away the janitor’s skepticism. She knew she sounded crazy right now, but she’d already gone this far so she was sticking to it, “I just have to place these papers here and...uh yep, wow all good, here!” Wendy placed the papers on the desk and patted them down as if that’d secure them some how.

 

The janitor spoke again, still giving Wendy a look that she could only describe as a glare mixed with uncertainty, “Were you hiding in th-“ 

 

“Closet! Ahahah no, no of course not! Closet? What closet? I don’t even know what a closet is ahaha! Oh wow is that a closet!” Wendy pointed to the closet that she one hundred percent knew was a closet, and decided she was taking on the role of a person who’d never in their life seen a closet before. She didn’t know why she was panicking so much but why not embrace the chaos at this point. Wendy was panicking and it was too late now to stop. (She also couldn't help but ironically realize the whole metaphor of her being in the closet..)

 

“Well would you look at that! That’s a closet, huh!” Wendy gawked at the closet as if it was the coolest thing she’d ever experienced.

 

The janitor glared up at her, still unamused, and he just looked like he wanted to go home. Wendy did too.

 

Wendy continued to awkwardly laugh and she decided she’d just try to squeeze by him and out the door, where she could act like none of this happened. 

 

“Ah well would you look at the time!” Wendy gestured to her bare wrist as if there should be a watch there, but wasn’t, “I should probably get going now, haha. You know, traffic and all that am I right!” Wendy was shimmying past him in the doorway now.

 

“Anyway, it was so great meeting you, sir, um... thank you so much for.. er.. your service!!” Wendy saluted and then instantly cringed at herself. Even she was aware of how dumb she acted when she got nervous.

 

Before the janitor could make any harsh criticisms about her little “performance” back there, Wendy hurried the fuck down the hallway as if she was actually being chased by that imaginary serial killer, turned janitor, that got her into this whole situation in the first place. Wendy cursed herself and her active imagination.

 

“Wendy you idiot!” She whispered to herself as her shoes tapped against the tiled floor in her hurry to escape. Her face was heating up in embarrassment and she just wanted to self-loathe in the comfort of her own home. 

 

Thankfully, she finally reached the double doors at the front of the school, and took a deep breathe in the fresh, chilly, air. The sun was setting now and Wendy was just praying her bus would be here on time. All she wanted to do now was shower and eat something. Anything. She wasn’t sure when exactly her bus would arrive, though, so she figured she had enough time to stop by at a convenient store for a drink.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> short chapters are short

**chapter 6 - IRENE**

✿

 

The movie was almost over and all their snacks were gone but, the girls were still hungry. 

 

“Unnniieeee~~” Joy said, poking at Irene who was keeping her eyes focused on the movie. Right now, Coraline was trying to find the missing eyes for the little ghost girls and Irene was intrigued. 

 

“Yes Sooyoung?” She said, still watching the screen.

 

“Can you pretty please go to the store and get us some more snacks~”

 

Irene sighed when she heard Yeri and Seulgi chime in, “Ooh yeah unnie make sure you get some more popcorn!” 

 

“Yeah and totally get strawberry ice cream while you're at it.” 

 

Irene didn’t correct Yeri on her lack of honorifics and instead said, “I haven’t agreed to anything yet!” And crossed her arms, even though she knew she had a soft spot for these girls and she’d end up getting them what they wanted anyways. If it made them happy, she’d do anything for them.

 

“Please unniee~” Joy begged hugging onto Irene’s arm because she knew Irene couldn’t resist her cute charm.

 

Irene pretended like she was considering answering their pleas, even though she already had, and released a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Okay okay fine, but you have to pause the movie.”

 

“Yay!” Seulgi clapped and high-fived Mr. Bear who didn’t seem as excited as she was. Yeri and Joy smiled at each other, their mouths already watering at the thought of more food. They all really had been dieting a lot so that they could look good for their upcoming show so, in turn, they were always hungry.

 

“Of course unnie we’ll wait for you!” Joy said and made a show of dramatically hitting the pause button on the remote.

 

As Irene walked over to retrieve her jacket, hat, and wallet, she heard Yeri walk up behind her. 

 

“Be careful, unnie.” She said and Irene smiled, feeling a strong urge to pat Yeri’s adorable little head. She loved it when Yeri was shy about her compassionate side and it made her feel warm inside knowing that the maknae cared about her well being.

 

“I always am.” Irene winked with a smile and then waved goodbye to the girls before closing the door behind her. Now she was on her way to the closest convenience store so she could feed her needy children. 

 

She had to wear a big hat and jacket in order to disguise herself should she run into any fans along the way, plus she was still wearing her pajamas. She had to admit she felt a little embarrassed, but hey, she looked like a queen whenever she wore anything so she would make the most of her goofy attire.

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> another short chapter lol

**chapter 7 - WENDY**

♡

 

“No no no no, fuck!” Wendy cursed under her breath when she had finally reached the convenience store and saw a sign posted on the door that read, **‘CLOSED EARLY TODAY DUE TO NEICE’S BIRTHDAY, WILL OPEN AGAIN TOMORROW MORNING AT 6:00 AM’**. 

 

Of course. Just Wendy’s luck. 

 

It also seemed like now was the perfect time for her stomach to growl so loudly that a pedestrian walking by felt the need to give her a strange look, and she groaned as she was reminded of her lack of food. She was crouched down at the front of the door now, drawing circles in the ground with her finger as she held her growling stomach and weeped to herself in tired annoyance. 

 

“ _First_ I get chased by a serial killer, _then_ I find out that the convenience store is closed because of someone’s stuPID NIECE, AND NOW PEOPLE FEEL THE NEED TO STARE AT ME! YEAH I’M TALKING TO YOU!” Wendy pointed at another pedestrian who had been staring at her, and he scurried away at her outburst. 

 

Wendy sighed. She wasn’t usually this harsh with strangers but her night had gone weirder than she’d expected and all she wanted right now was food and a warm bed.

 

The screeching of tires across the street drew Wendy’s attention away from her self-pity party, and she quickly snapped up when she realized it was her bus. 

 

“Oh shit!” She exclaimed and, making sure there weren’t any other cars on the road, she ran through the street to the other side so she could get on the bus and just go home. 

 

Stepping onto the bus, Wendy nodded to the bus driver and realized that he was the same elderly man that had taken her to school earlier this morning. Silently, as to not disturb any of the other passengers, Wendy went to take an empty seat on the left by the window. With a huff, Wendy collected herself as much as she could and decided to just look out the window. The sun had almost completely set by now and only a few slivers of yellow and pink could be seen in the sky where the rest was a dark black.

 

Another passenger, a man who was tall and out of breath, quickly got onto the bus and whispered his apologizes before slumping down into a seat a few spaces in front of Wendy. He seemed disheveled and Wendy thought he reminded her of herself.

 

When the doors closed and the bus started to move again, Wendy noticed how nice and warm the air was. It felt like a big blanket was being wrapped around her shoulders and she couldn’t help herself from snuggling into her seat a little. The stress and overall weirdness of her day must had finally caught up to her too, and she quickly found herself struggling to keep her eyes open.

 

She knew the bus ride would only take a few minutes before she reached her destination so she had to stay awake. However, she wasn’t the best at forcing herself awake when she was tired, and her head lulled to the side a bit. Using all the will power she had left, Wendy quickly shook herself awake with a jolt and the tall man in front of her turned around to see what the noise was.

 

She nodded sheepish in apology to the man and lightly slapped herself in the face to try to keep herself alert. 

 

She decided she’d distract herself but counting the number of cars that she saw pass by. She honestly should’ve known that counting when she was tired only made her sleepier because when she got to car number 16, the gentle lulling of the bus and the overall warmth of the air overcame her and her body couldn’t take it anymore. Relaxing, she soon fell asleep with her face pressed unceremoniously against the cold bus window.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> first glances ;-) hehe

**chapter 8 - IRENE**

✿

 

When Irene pushed through the doors of the building and stepped out into the crisp night air, she adjusted her hat on her head. It was cold out but not too cold so Irene was thankful for her pajama bottoms to keep her warm.

 

She figured she’d go to the convenience store a little farther away because she knew it had the food that the girls had requested. As soon as she took out her phone to pull up a map, she noticed a bus pulling in at a bus stop a few steps away so she decided she’d just get on it and go from there. The sign on the bus showed that it was traveling to a street that she was familiar with and Irene knew it was by the convenience store that she wanted to go to as well, so, she was in luck.

 

She nodded to the bus driver when she stepped on and was instantly greeted by a puff of warm air. Irene looked around for an empty seat and noticed how sparse the bus looked. It was practically empty aside from a tall man in a thick coat, an elderly couple, and a girl, about Irene’s age, who was sleeping by a window. Irene couldn’t see the girls face because her hair was covering it so she sighed and decided to take a seat on the right. She sat close to the front of the bus to where she was near the door and could get off quicker once she reached her stop.

 

Since it was so dark out, Irene couldn’t really see anything worthwhile out the window so she decided to people watch inside the bus instead.

 

The only person on the bus who’d initially caught the idol’s eye was the girl a few seats back on the left. She was passed out against the window and Irene imagined how she’d ended up asleep and alone on a bus. Irene couldn’t help but smile at the strange girl because she was snoring and every once and a while she would move in her seat and the hair covering her face would move too until she could almost make out what she looked like. So far Irene could only tell that she had full, rosy cheeks, which Irene imagined would be really cute to touch, and shiny, pink lips.

 

Irene tilted her head in amazement when she realized the girl was drooling now too. She felt a little bad that she giggled at the sight, but she also felt an immense urge to just go and sit down next to her so she could observe her closer. She wasn’t being creepy or anything, she was just intrigued by this mysterious, sleepy girl on the bus. She didn’t go sit with her, though, and, without intentionally doing it, her eyes panned down to the girls waist. She was sitting with her thighs pressed against the seat and Irene’s eyes grew in awe when she noticed how squishy and soft her butt looked in those jeans. Irene always loved looking at butts, and touching butts, so right now her hand really wanted to touch this butt! Okay so she had to admit she was sounding creepy now...

 

Shaking her head, she decided to let the girl sleep in peace and without any eyes on her, so she turned back around in her seat and took out her phone. She had been meaning to do this earlier so now was as good of a time as any. She opened up the messages app on her phone and starting typing a text to her manager:

 

_Time- 6:25 PM_

_Battery- 82%_

_To: taetae unnie_

 

**Irene:** "Taeyeon unnie~~~~"

 

**Irene:** "unnie!!!!!"

 

**Irene:** "Omg unnie ik ure on ur phone so answer me!!!" 

 

**Taeyeon:** "Ahh ok ok, fine you got me. what's up?"

 

**Irene:** "Sooooo, i know something ;-)"

 

**Taeyeon:** "You... know something? okay, good for you?"

 

 

 

Irene couldn't help but roll her eyes before she typed back her response.

 

 

**Irene:** "i heard ur "convo" with the CEO earlier about talk of adding a fifth member to the group and i wanted to tell you that i think it's a good idea!"

 

**Irene:** "the rest of the girls think so too!!"

 

**Taeyeon:** "Well damn! You should've backed me up back there when the CEO was tearing the idea to shreds.."

 

**Taeyeon:** "It's good that you agree with me though, it'll be easier to persuade Han Se-min sunbaenim that way."

 

**Irene:** "Great! now tell me what i can do to help"

 

**Taeyeon:** "Well i was thinki- wait, where are you right now? In the dorms?"

 

**Irene:** "oh nope. well i'm on a bus rn lol i'm picking up some snacks for the girls"

 

**Taeyeon:** "Picking up snacks, huh? You're such a little mom, Bae lol."

 

**Irene:** "ooh that's so rich coming from you 'Mom of Red Velvet' <3"

 

**Taeyeon:** "Oh shut up! You know you love me<3"

 

**Irene:** "whateverrrrr now tell me, what's the plan?"

 

**Taeyeon:** "It'll be better if i tell you in person, along with the rest of the girls."

 

**Irene:** "fine fine i'll tell them about it one i get home. talk to u tomorrow unnie~

 

**Taeyeon:** "Roger that, and have fun getting snacks! <3 xoxo"

 

 

Irene put her phone down and rolled her eyes at her playfully stubborn momager. She was hoping Taeyeon actually had a good plan to make this fifth member idea become a reality and if she didn’t, Irene would just have to brainstorm some ideas before tomorrow. With a sigh, Irene looked up and noticed her stop was coming up soon so she collected her purse and waited for the bus to stop somewhere. Before it could, however, she heard a loud noise that sounded like a gasp, followed by hurried shuffling, coming from a few rows behind her. She turned her head and saw that it was the girl from before who had been the source of the noise.

 

She was clearly awake now and she looked surprised and wide-eyed. Irene assumed that she’d overslept and missed her stop, or something along those lines. Her assumption was made correct when the girl grabbed her things and sped down the hallway of the bus, while it was still in motion, and stopped next to the bus driver.

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> so short aghhh

**chapter 9 - WENDY**

♡

 

“Uh excuse me sir but where are we right now??!” Wendy hurriedly rushed out at the bus driver, hoping that she was whispering and sounded calm and polite, but in reality, she was yelling and freaking out. 

 

“Miss you really should remain seated until the bus stops.” The bus driver said in a flat tone like he was just regurgitating one of the basic rules of bus safety that he had to know in order to get this job. 

 

Wendy, still freaking out, nodded and just chose to sit down in the seat right behind the bus driver. She took out her phone and realized it was already 6:35 PM. Her eyes widened even further when she became aware of how dark it was outside too.

 

“Did I seriously fall asleep!!!?” Wendy whispered to herself in shock and she ran a hand through her messy bangs.

 

Trying again, Wendy leaned over to the bus driver and repeated the question. “Sir, please, I’m sitting down now so can you please just tell me, how far away are we from Wonju?” She was dreading the answer and unconsciously held her breath in anticipation.

 

“Wonju?  Miss, we passed that place an hour ago.” The driver said, still with very little emotion in his voice. He proceeded to stop the bus and then called out the name of the stop so people could get off. 

 

Wendy heard someone stand up and get off but she didn’t look up from her lap to see who it was. She was having a crisis right now and she could fell her face turning white. 

 

An hour. She was asleep for a whole hour and not one person had the decency to wake her up and tell her, ‘hey, miss, I noticed you’ve been riding the bus for a while and your stop may be coming up soon, you should wake up!’

 

Wendy huffed and gripped her pants for support because, as dramatic as it sounded, she felt like she’d fall off the earth all together if she wasn’t holding on to something right now. She took a deep breath and tired to calm down and look at the bright side of things. For starters, she’d never been to this part of Seoul before so it could be a fun adventure, plus this is the city where ordinary people become idols so it was safe to say that Wendy had a lot of interest in this town. The night was still young so she’d be okay alone.

 

The bus driver called one more time if anyone was getting off and Wendy, without thinking, stood up and exited the bus straight on an impulse. Even though she had no idea how she would get back home, she took a deep breath and decided she’d figure everything else out once she got some food in her system.

 

Thankfully it didn’t take Wendy too long to spot a convenience store, which was just a few steps away, and she sighed with relief that she wouldn’t have to stand out in the cold any longer.

 

She pushed through the doors of the 7/11 and was greeted by the sweet air conditioning. 

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> worlds collide (pun intended)
> 
> uwu

**chapter 10 - IRENE**

✿

 

Irene was standing in one of the snack aisles at the 7/11 with her hat still firm around her head and her coat covering her torso and her pajamas. She was currently deciding which type of popcorn that her 'children' back at the dorm would like the best and she honestly hadn’t realized how many different flavors of popcorn there were. To name a few, Irene saw a classic buttered kind, kettle corn, caramel, sea salt, white cheddar, and a few more. Irene was honestly going a little crazy trying to choose just one flavor so she decided to go the safe route and picked the butter one along with the white cheddar one, because why not.

 

Tossing the popcorn bags into her cart, she exhaled and proceeded to wheel the cart over to the frozen treats section to get the strawberry ice cream that the maknae had requested. Once again, she was met with a similar difficulty, but this time is was trying to decide which brand of strawberry ice cream would taste the best.

 

With a pout she stared down the cartons of ice cream contemplating for what felt like way too long, until she heard the sound of a bell chiming at the front of the store which signaled that a customer just walked in.

 

Turning her head, it felt like the world was moving in slow motion and Irene noticed that it was the girl from the bus who had just walked in. She looked super cute and puffy, her hair was still a bit messy and Irene felt nervous all of a sudden. She quickly turned her head back around to avoid any chance of eye contact between the two and her hands felt sweaty against the frozen ice cream container.

 

Taking a deep breathe, Irene tried to clear her head and calm down because she didn’t know why she was getting so worked up over this complete stranger. Irene was usually calm and collected in most every situation so she wasn’t entirely sure why just seeing this girl made her feel so giddy and flushed.

 

_‘Just pick the damn ice cream and get out of here!’_ Irene’s thoughts were yelling in her head, so she hurriedly tossed the ice cream that was in her hands into the cart and pushed it behind a different aisle. She noticed the girl was standing in the snack aisle that she was previously in and Irene could only just make out where she was by looking through the racks of food between them.

 

She looked hungry, just like her, and Irene was seriously contemplating walking over to her and just inviting her over to eat snacks and finish that movie with her and her members. Of course she could never do that, though, because she was an idol. A famous idol, and if reporters and paparazzi ever got wind of her inviting a mystery girl over to her dorm, well, gossip and rumors would spread like wildfire. Sometimes Irene considered taking the risk, but she knew that she was part of a group and if she did something “bad” that wouldn’t just reflect on her, but it would reflect on the whole group. She was their leader so she had to set a good example for them at all times. Plus her and this girl were still complete strangers that would just be weird to invite her over!

 

Irene shook her head and teared her eyes away from the girl. She was just going to calmly buy her snacks and get on the next bus. That’s it. No talking. No glances. Nothing. She walked up to the cash register to purchase everything and tried her best to ignore the soft humming and mumbles of the girl deciding what to buy a few aisles away.

 

“Um you’re total is $6.23.” the teenager behind the counter said and Irene smiled and nodded before handing the boy a $10 bill. 

 

“You can keep the change.” Irene said as she shoved her wallet back away into her coat pocket. She felt like she needs to get out as fast as possible because she wasn’t sure what her brain would unconsciously do should she run into that girl. Nodding her thanks to the cashier, she grabbed her bags and turned towards the door quickly.

 

Without looking where she was going, Irene felt herself herself slam into something  _hard_.

 

She landed on the ground with a thud as well as her shopping bags which opened up across the floor. Without looking up, a string of apologies fell from her mouth to the person she’d just carelessly ran into and Irene felt really embarrassed.

 

“Ouch— oh my god I-I’m so sorry” She said, fumbling trying to pick her items up off of the floor, “I wasn’t paying attention and I was being careless I-“ 

 

“Ow ahaha it's totally okay.” The stranger said in a soft, silky voice that cut Irene’s heart like a knife in butter. Irene felt the person press their hand on top of hers to stop her from frantically trying to shove her snacks back into their bags and Irene was almost too scared to look up because she knew exactly who she’d run into.

 

“I’m sorry.” Irene nodded again and finally gathered the strength to look up. She blinked.

 

It was the girl from the bus. The peaceful, sleepy, angelic, yet loud, crazy, and overall breath-taking, girl from the bus. 

 

Irene felt her heart skip a beat as she quietly watched the girl collect Irene’s spilled belongings. When she finished, Irene stood up first and held her hand out to the girl. (The girl who's name Irene still didn’t know yet which made her pout.)

 

When the girl turned to look at her, Irene looked away. She didn’t want the girl to recognize her and realize that she was an idol or else things would get hectic, so she bowed her head in thanks and, while looking anywhere but the girl's face, she asked, “Are you okay? I mean, you’re not hurt or anything, right?” Irene felt her motherly instincts kick in and her need to protect anyone around her who seemed younger than her. 

 

“Yeah I’m okay. How about you?” 

 

Irene felt the girl looking at her and she knew if she made eye contact it would melt her heart considering she’d never actually seen bus girl’s eyes yet. “Oh, I’m fine,” She said before nodding again, “Have a good night,” and she quickly walked passed her and out the door.

 

Taking a deep breath of the cold night air, it felt like she had been holding her breath since the moment she entered the convenience store. Dusting herself off, she straightened herself out and covered the goofy smile on her face with the back of her hand. Irene shook her head and couldn’t help but laugh at herself for how ditsy and nervous she had just acted. She didn’t know why this girl made her feel like a school girl who had her first crush on a boy, but nonetheless, she found it intriguing. Before she could think on it more, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and reaching in to retrieve it. She proceeded to make her way over towards the nearest bench to wait for her bus as she pulled her phone out.

 

Turning it on, she smiled when she saw it was a text from the group chat she shared with Yeri, Seulgi, and Joy.

 

_Time- 7:02 PM_

_Battery- 77%_

_To: dumb dumbs group chat_

 

**Joy:** "omg unnie did you die??!"

 

**Yeri:** "fr :-( my stomach can't take it anymore i need  f o o d!!!!"

 

**Seulgi:** "yah we only have lemon water in the fridge, unnie plz dont be dead"

 

**Irene:** "i'm not dead, i'll be home soon i'm waiting for the bus now"

 

**Yeri:** "rip unnie, she will b missed"

 

 

**Seulgi:** "rip :-("

 

**Joy:** "rip, our leader, Bae"

 

**Seulgi:**  [sends a pouty selfie in the chat]

 

**Seulgi** : "me mourning unnie"

 

**Irene:** "omg i cant with you guys.."

 

**Yeri:** "yo it's like i can still hear her voice :-("

 

**Joy:** "me too :0"

 

**Irene:** "if you keep pretending im dead i swear to god im going to haunt you~~<3"

 

**Seulgi:** "omg unnie!!! ure alive<3"

 

**Yeri:** "tis a true christmas miracle!!"

 

 

**Irene:** "You guys are so dumb skskskskj"

 

**Joy:** "but u love us tho<3 <3 <3"

**Irene:** "."

 

**Seulgi:** "unnie~ are u gonna b here soon,,, and with foooood?"

 

**Yeri:** "^ yes food<3"

 

**Irene:** "I'll be there in 15 mins ok? i think i see my bus coming so be patient (if you even know how)"

 

**Joy:** "ooo ok shade come thru!!"

 

**Yeri:** "wow unnie really coming for our wigs like that!"

 

**Seulgi:**  "suddenly im bald"

 

**Irene:** "omg bYE my bus is here<3"

 

**Irene:** "love u uwu~"

 

**Yeri:** "omg no, unnie!!! did seulgi teach you 'uwu' "

 

**Irene:** "uwu"

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wendy's p.o.v meeting irene

**chapter 11 - WENDY**

♡

 

The 7/11 wasn’t as crowded at this time of night and Wendy guessed that she was the only person in the store right now, aside from the boy at the register. 

 

Determined to find something to eat, Wendy walked straight over to the snacks aisle to look for something cheap and delicious. She couldn’t decide on something relatively healthy, like a granola bar, or something that she’d actually enjoy, like chips. Wendy had a habit of humming to herself whenever she was trying to focus or make decisions so she subconsciously started to hum a song that she’d heard on her ipod early.

 

Staring down the bag of chips and the granola bar for what felt like too long, Wendy decided to throw caution to the wind and happily chose the chips over the granola bar. Feeling content in her decision, she made her way over to the cash register. Wendy wasn’t really paying attention, however, being too focused on her snack, that she suddenly slammed into someone, _hard_.

 

Wendy landed on her butt with a thud and instantly repeated _‘ow ow ow’_ over and over again in her head as if that would help the newfound pain in her ass. Thankfully Wendy had been holding onto her chips like a life line so she hadn’t dropped them, though the same couldn’t be said for the person whom she’d run into.

 

“Ouch— oh my god I’m so sorry.” A voice said and Wendy opened her eyes, which she had squeezed shut during the collision, and looked up to see the source of the apology. She smiled when she saw it was girl. “I wasn’t paying attention and I was being careless I-“ The girl was frantically trying to collect her spilled items off of the floor now. She was wearing a really big hat and coat and it reminded Wendy of two little kids stacked on top of one another trying to sneak into an R-rated movie. Wendy couldn’t help but giggle to herself at that and decided to cut the girl off to stop her rambling apologies.

 

“Ahaha it’s totally okay.” Wendy said with a smile and placed her hand on top of the strangers. She tried to get a good look at the girl's face, but she was looking down at the floor. Wendy could feel her gay coming through and she couldn’t help herself from thinking how cute this stranger was.

 

“I’m sorry.” The girl spoke up again and Wendy couldn’t tell if the girl was blushing or was just embarrassed. The chance that she was blushing made Wendy blush a little too.

 

Wendy nodded with a smile and proceeded to pick up the girl's belongings for her. She could feel the girl watching her but she didn’t want to look up at her or else she might get flustered, so she continued to act cool. When she’d finished, the girl stood up and stretched a hand out towards her to take and Wendy gladly accepted. Internally, Wendy prayed that her hands weren’t sweaty or anything because she still wanted the girl to think she was cool. (No one ever thought Wendy was cool so she was determined to at least make this stranger think she was.)

 

Wendy turned to look at the girl, since she was feeling brave now, and wanted to see what her face looked like. Her voice had sounded beautiful, even when she was just apologizing, and Wendy was crossing her fingers that they would look similar in age. Wendy was lonely, what could she say! But as soon as she looked the girl's way, the girl turned her head, looking out the store windows. This made Wendy pout a little but she just tried to accept the small defeat.

 

“Are you okay? I mean, you’re not hurt or anything, right?” The girl spoke up, still facing away from Wendy.

 

Wendy smiled and looked down at herself to make sure she was all good. "Yeah I’m okay. How about you?” Wendy asked and looked back up towards the girl in hopes that she’d turn around and look at her. 

 

Of course if she did look at her, Wendy wasn’t sure what she’d do. She’d probably get too nervous or maybe die right there on the spot if the girl was as beautiful as she sounded. From what she could see however, Wendy could only see a bit of silky purple hair that snuck out from the back of her coat and for a second she almost thought that the girl looked like an idol. This thought made Wendy’s heart skip a beat.

 

“I’m fine,” the girl said quietly and nodded, still facing away, “Have a good night.” And with those as her parting words, the girl hurriedly exited through the front doors before Wendy could even blink. 

 

Wendy reached a hand out towards the direction that the girl left in, as if she would be able to drag the girl back inside, though the girl was already gone. Wendy sighed, letting her hand fall back to her side, and stared at the bag of chips that she was still holding in defeat. 

 

Suddenly the front doors chimed and Wendy quickly looked up in hopes that the girl had come back, but when she saw that it was just some random stranger, Wendy felt dumb for getting her hopes up. The girl had clearly been in a hurry to escape her so she probably wasn’t interested in Wendy anyways. Wendy must’ve just jumped to conclusions and assumed that the girl was gay when she wasn’t. _‘Not every pretty girl that’s nice to you is gay Seungwan!’_ Wendy berated herself in her head. She really felt like a dumb dumb sometimes and lightly hit her head in embarrassment. Wendy felt her face heat up as she thought back on that whole encounter. 

 

“Idiot idiot idiot!” Wendy proceeded to hit herself in the head with her palm, not realizing how insane she probably looked.

 

Amongst it all, Wendy had almost forgotten that she still had to purchase her chips, but she was reminded of the fact when the voice of a teenage boy spoke up from behind her.

 

“Miss... um are you okay.” He stated in a bored tone, rather than concerned, and Wendy turned around to see that it was the worker at the cash register. 

 

He had seen the whole ordeal between Wendy and that girl, and how Wendy probably looked like an escaped insane asylum patient, and hadn’t done anything, so Wendy huffed and guessed that he wasn’t really asking if she was okay. It was probably just mandatory for him to ask the well-being of a customer as an employee.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks.” She said and walked up to buy her chips. Wendy just wanted to get out of the store and eat her chips in peace so she begrudgingly took out $1.50 to pay for the chips and left before she could hear the boys unenthusiastic, “Come again!” 

 

When she stepped out into the cold night air, she watched as a bus drove past the store and was reminded of her predicament. She was stuck, all alone, in Seoul with no ride home and she had work tomorrow. She had no idea what she was going to do so she decided she’d just start walking in one direction and see if she could find a map or something that could tell her where exactly she was. She’d never been to Seoul before and, even though it was dark out, she was still fascinated by the billboards of idols and the flyers promoting cool hangouts that were all over the place. Thinking back, those things were probably back home in Wonju too, but since she was in Seoul, everything just seemed cooler. 

 

Wendy pulled out her phone, and started skimming through her contacts in search of someone who she could call for help. She frowned when she realized that, out of her limited options, no one would want to make the trip on a weekday night to come get her.

 

The sound of Wendy’s stomach growling reminded her of the fact that she still hadn’t eaten her chips yet. 

 

“Ahhh I almost forgot that I was hungry!” Wendy said to herself and rubbed her stomach with her hand. She noticed that she had walked to a park area and made her way over to one of the benches so she could take a break and eat. She took the chips out of her bag and hummed in excitement at the thought of eating. She figured she’d might as well get some schoolwork done as well while she was eating, so she took out some papers from her bag to work on. Yay for multi-tasking!

 

She hummed to herself as she scanned the papers and then stopped when she noticed something scribbled at the bottom of one of the pages. It was small and hurriedly written in messy black ink. The message as follows: “If we’re really going to be friends, then you’ll need this XXX-XXX-XXXX (｡•̀ᴗ-)✧ -Heechul”

 

Wendy’s eyes grew and she starting choking on a chip.

 

She spent a few seconds coughing like an idiot which drew attention from a few people walking by. Wendy, choosing to ignore their stares, picked the paper back up off the ground, which had fallen during her coughing fit. Then, with one hand holding onto her phone and the other grasping the paper, Wendy quickly typed Heechul’s number in and was about to write the first message when she stopped.

 

Wait, would he even be willing to come get her anyway? They’d literally just met so Wendy doubted they were even close enough to be doing each other such big favors.

 

Wendy puffed up her cheeks, forming a little pout, and almost turned her phone off, but ultimately decided that it was at least worth a shot to ask. The worst he could say is no and if he did, Wendy would just have to find another way home. It was no big deal. She could do this! 

 

So she sent him a text:

 

_Time- 7:55 PM_

_Battery- 32%_

_To: Heechul_

 

**Wendy:** "hey heechul, it's wendy! i just saw your little message lol"

 

 

A few seconds after she hit send she noticed that he'd already responded. _'Hmm well that was fast..'_ she thought before opening the text.

 

 

**Heechul:** "i was wondering how long it would take for you to notice it ;-)"

 

**Wendy:** "haha yeah i'm a little slow lol but .. listen..."

 

**Wendy:** "and i hate to ask this of you since we just met and everything but ummmm.."

 

**Heechul:** "Don't worry about it Ms. Shon, you can ask me anything. Shoot"

 

 

**Wendy:** "ok haha well, and you dont have to say yes or anything!!! but i was just wondering if you could.. maybe.. come pick me up.. lol"

 

**Heechul:** "pick you up? like for a date? wendy i"

 

**Wendy:** "OMG SHDFJSFJ NO NO STOP"

 

**Wendy:** "I mean i, no!! just.. look it's kind of embarrassing ok but lemme explain.."

 

 

**Wendy:** "so i was taking the bus home and i guess i accidentally fell asleep so i missed my stop and now im in Seoul, _the Seoul_ , all alone and im kinda freaking out because idk what to do!! haha plz help me? :D"

 

**Heechul:** "Oh hah. Of course thats what you meant. i see"

 

**Heechul:** "but yeah yeah, of course, i'll come get you"

 

**Wendy:** "OMG REALLY!!! THAT'S SO NICE OF YOU OMG I OWE YOU ONE BIG TIME!"

 

 

**Heechul:** "Haha yes really and don't worry about it, Seoul isn't too far from Wonju anyways"

 

**Wendy:** "omg thank you so so much heechie!!!!!! <3 <3 <3"

 

**Wendy:** "skshskssks idk y i just called you 'heechie' but that happened!!! IM SORRY IM JUST HAPPY OK"

 

**Heechul:** "heechie, huh ngl i kinda dig it ;-)"

 

**Heechul:** "anyways, where should i come get you? any recognizable buildings nearby? im getting in my car rn"

 

 

**Wendy:** "omghfjgk im gonna change your name in my contacts to heechie now!!"

 

**Wendy:** "but hmm not sure lemme look around"

 

**Wendy:** "well currently im at some park right now.. not sure if that helps lol but i think theres a sign over there one sec"

 

**Heechul:** "Take your time."

 

**Wendy:** "ooo ok it says 'Yeouido Park' ? does it sound familiar to you lol? idk ive never been here before"

 

**Heechul:** "oh yep i think ik where that is, i'll gps it just to be sure though haha"

 

**Wendy:** "ok great! i'll just be sitting on one of these benches i guess lol and thank you so much heechie, I really do owe you one!"

 

**Heechul:** "trust me, its no problem at all. see you then and make sure not to talk to any strangers!"

 

**Wendy:** "BYE im an adult shfskfhl but yes sir Mr. Heechul! drive safe!"

 

 

Wendy smiled as she put her phone down and sighed in relief that she’d make it home. She’d honestly started to lose hope a little that she’d ever make it to school tomorrow morning, but thanks to Heechul, everything was fine. She’d have to make sure to repay him later. She knew it would take a while before he got there, though, so she focused on working on more school assignments as well as planning ahead in her future class lessons so the principal would be extra surprised at her level of preparedness. She was gonna show her new boss that she had great work ethic and would be the best English teacher that schools ever seen! 

 

Sticking her tongue out in concentration, she got straight to work.

 

After working for a good hour, Wendy decided to take a break to stand up and stretch. It was pretty late now, nearing 9:30 pm, and Wendy wondered where Heechul was. 

 

She must be psychic because as soon as she thought about him, her phone vibrated and she picked it up to see it was Heechul calling her.

 

“Hello!” She said happily, stretching her legs.

 

“Hey! I’m here. I think i can see you. I’m waving at you right now.”

 

“Oh okay, ahah I think I see you too! I’m coming.”

 

“Alright I'm gonna hang up now.” He laughed and turned his phone off when Wendy reached the car.

 

“Heechul you have no idea how happy I am to see you.” Wendy said, opening the passenger door. “Nice car by the way.”

 

“Haha thanks and it was no problem, really. I wasn’t doing anything anyways.”

 

“Still. Thank you.” Wendy smiled and buckled her seatbelt.

 

Heechul couldn’t help but smile at Wendy. She reminded him of a happy puppy and he felt his heart skip a beat when he thought about her smile. Even though they hadn’t known each other for long, Heechul had really gotten to like Wendy. She was equally smart, driven, diligent, funny, and cute. She really had a lot of charm and Heechul eagerly wanted to get to know more about her. 

 

Realizing what he was thinking, he quickly turned his head to face the front, suddenly he felt heat rise to his face. Oh my god. 

Was he... crushing on Wendy?

 

While Heechul was panicking internally, Wendy spoke up.

 

“Heechul? Aren’t we gonna go now?” She asked, looking up at him with those big, beautif- i mean, brown, _brown_ eyes. 

 

“Oh yeah yeah, of course. Haha sorry.” He said and awkwardly coughed, hoping she didn’t notice him struggling to put the keys back in the ignition.

 

Thankfully, Wendy hadn’t seemed to notice, and instead, had diverted her attention to something happening outside.

 

When he finally got the car running, they took off back towards Wonju. Heechul turned on the radio to fill the silence.

 

“Achooo!” Wendy suddenly sneezed and covered her nose with her hand.

 

Heechul gulped. 

 

Dammit even her sneezes sounded cute.

 

“B-bless you!” He said, eyes still focused on the road ahead.

 

“Thank you, again, haha. I think someone must be talking about me.” Wendy said with a hand on her chin and for a second she hoped it was the girl she’d run into at the convenience store who’d been the cause of her sneeze.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we've reached all that I've finished from this fic :/ I know I know, it was just getting started right! don't worry though because I am planning on writing more come May 2019 so please be patient until then! if you want more red velvet fics, I have another story called 'Wendy and the Pink Rabbit' on my page if you wanna check that out! I also have this random bts one shot thing that I randomly wrote called 'Coffee' but it's like 10 words lmao.. I also have another bts yoonmin thing I was semi-working on that I never uploaded so I could post that as well if anyone's interested in that haha (it involves magic).~~
> 
> Aaaaanyways, I hope you enjoyed the story so far ((even though it's not finished..)) but don't lose faith in me yet! thank you for reading, commenting, and leaving kudos and I'll see you soon<3


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